If he had had his way, Peter McDermott thought, he would have fired the chief hou detective long ago. But he had not had his way and now, once more, the obe ex-policeman was missing when he was needed most. | 彼得麦克德莫特心想，要是他说了算的话，老早就把这个侦探长给开了。可是他没能说了算，而这会儿，这位当过警察肚满肠肥的侦探长，又在自己最需要他的时候，失踪了。 |
| 渑池之会 | |
r2000McDermott leaned down from his husky six-and-a-half feet and jiggled the desk telephone impatiently. "Fifteen things break loo at once," he told the girl by the window of the wide, broadloomed office, "and nobody can find him."猜不透歌词 | 迈克俯下他六英尺半的魁梧身段，不耐烦地晃悠着办公桌上的电话机。“一下子出来一堆麻烦事儿”，他对这间铺宽幅地毯的宽敞办公室窗边的女孩说，“可谁都找不着他。” |
Christine Francis glanced at her wrist watch. It showed a few minutes before "There's a bar on Baronne Street you might try." | 克里斯汀弗兰西斯扫了一眼她的腕表，离晚上11点还差几分钟。“伯朗街有家酒吧你可以问问。” |
Peter McDermott nodded. "The switchboard's checking Ogilvie's hangouts." He opened a desk drawer, took out cigarettes and offered them to Christine. | 彼得麦克德莫特点点头，“总机正在找奥格尔维常去的地方打听。”他打开办公桌的一个抽屉，拿出香烟递给克里斯蒂。 |
Coming forward, she accepted a cigarette and McDermott lit it, then did the same for himlf. He watched as she inhaled. Christine Francis had left her own smaller office in the St. Gregory Hotel executive suite a few minutes earlier. She had been working late and was on the point of going home when the light under the assistant general manager's door had drawn her in. | 她走上前拿了一根，德莫特帮她点着，然后给自己也点了一根，看着她吞云吐雾的样子。克里斯汀弗朗西斯几分钟前刚离开她在圣格里高利大饭店行政套房的小办公室。她一直在加班，正打算回家的时候，看到副总经理办公室门缝下透出的灯光，不禁想进来瞧瞧。 |
"Our Mr. Ogilvie makes his own rules," Christine said. "It's always been that way. On W.T.'s orders." | “我们这位奥格尔维先生可以自行其是”，克里斯汀说，“一直以来都是这样，是老板钦准的。” |
McDermott spoke briefly into the telephone, then waited again. "You're right," he acknowledged. "I tried to reorganize our tame detective force once, and my ears were properly pinned back." | 麦克德莫特跟电话里简单说了几句，然后又继续等着。“可不是”，他也承认，“我有一次还想整顿一下我们这个稀里糊涂的侦探部门，结果结结实实地碰了个钉子” |
She said quietly, "I didn't know that." | 她不动声色地说，“这我倒不知道。”社会实践题目 |
He looked at her quizzically. "I thought you knew everything." | 他一脸嘲讽地看着她。“我以为没你不知道的呢。” |
And usually she did. As personal assistant to Warren Trent, the unpredictable and irascible owner of New Orleans' largest hotel, Christine was privy to the hotel's inner crets as well as its day-to-day affairs. She knew, for example, that Peter, who had been promoted to assistant general manager a month or two ago, was virtually running the big, bustling St. Gregory, though at an ungenerous salary and with limited authority. She knew the reasons behind that, too, which were in a file marked Confidential and involved Peter McDermott's personal life. | 这话一般来说是没错。作为新奥尔良头号大饭店老板，喜怒无常脾气暴躁的沃伦特伦特的私人助理，克里斯汀对饭店的机密内情和日常事务，都可谓了如指掌。比如说，她知道，一两个月以前刚被提拔为副总经理的彼得，几乎是在一手打理着家大业大的圣格里高利大饭店，可却领着微薄的薪水，实权也有限。背后的原因她也很清楚，具体记录在一份标为“机密”的文件里，涉及彼得麦克德莫特的私生活。 |
Christine asked, "What is breaking loo?" | 克里斯汀问他，“哪些麻烦事儿？” |
McDermott gave a cheerful grin which contorted his rugged, almost ugly features. "We've a complaint from the eleventh floor about some sort of x orgy; on the ninth the Duchess of Croydon claims her Duke has been insulted by a room-rvice waiter; there's a report of somebody moaning horribly in 1439; and I've the night manager off sick, with the other two hou officers otherwi engaged." | 麦克德莫特咧嘴一乐，扭曲着他那粗犷到几近丑陋的五官。“十一楼有投诉说有人聚众淫乱；九楼的克罗伊敦公爵夫人说一名客房送餐服务生冒犯了公爵；还有人报告说1439房间传出很吓人的呻吟声；我的夜班经理请了病假，而另外两个酒店侦探另有公干。” |
He spoke into the telephone again and Christine returned to the office window which was on the main mezzanine floor. Head tilted back to keep the cigarette smoke from her eyes, she looked casually across the city. Directly ahead, through an avenue of space between adjoining buildings, she could e into the tight, crowded rectangle of the French Quarter. With midnight an hour away, it was early yet for the Quarter, and lights in front of late night bars, bistros, jazz halls, and strip joints-as well as behind darkened shutters-would bum well into tomorrow morning. | 他又讲上了电话，克里斯汀则走回到位于主夹层楼面的办公室窗边。她往后仰着头让烟避开眼睛，一边漫不经心地望过这座城市。在正前方，紫玫瑰花语 隔着一条夹在毗邻建筑之间的宽阔大道，她可以远远看到四四方方紧凑而拥挤的法国区。离午夜还有一个小时，对法国区来说时辰尚早，那些通宵酒吧，小酒馆，爵士乐厅和脱衣舞厅门前，以及黑色百叶窗之后的灯火，会慵懒地亮到清晨。 |
Somewhere to the north, over Lake Pontchartrain probably, a summer storm was brewing in the darkness. The beginnings of it could be nd in muted rumblings and an occasional flash of light. With luck, if the storm moved south toward the Gulf of Mexico, there might be rain in New Orleans by morning. | 北边某个地方，可能是庞恰特雷恩湖的上空，正在酝酿着一股夏季风暴。风暴之初，可能会传来隆隆的闷响声和偶尔倏忽即逝的闪光。运气好的话，如果风暴往墨西哥湾南下，到早上的时候新奥尔良或许会下雨。 |
The rain would be welcome, Christine thought. For three weeks the city had sweltered in heat and humidity, producing tensions all around. There would be relief in the hotel too. This afternoon the chief engineer had complained again, "If I canna' shut down part of the airconditioning soon, I willna' be responsible for my bearings. | 那可真是久旱甘霖啊，克里斯汀心想。这座城市已经被酷暑湿热煎熬了三个星期，弄得人人都火气很大。下了雨饭店也可以松口气了。下午的时候工程部经理又来抱怨，“要是不让俺马上关掉一部分空调的话，俺那些轴承俺可不负责了” |
Peter McDermott put down the telephone and she asked, "Do you have a name for the room where the moaning is?" | 彼得麦克德莫特放下了话筒，她问他，“那个有人呻吟的房间住客名字你有吗？” |
He shook his head and lifted the phone again. "I'll find out. Probably someone having a nightmare, but we'd better make sure." As she dropped into an upholstered leather chair facing the big mahogany desk, Christine realized suddenly how very tired she was. In the ordinary way she would have been home at her Gentilly apartment hours ago. But today had been exceptionally full, with two conventions moving in and a heavy influx of other guests, creating problems, many of which had found their way to her desk. | 他摇了摇头，又拿起了话筒。“我问问。估计是有人做噩梦，不过最好还是弄弄清。”。克里斯汀坐倒在面朝红木大办公桌的一把软垫皮革椅子里，这一坐她才突然意识到自己有多累。平日这时候她几个钟头前就已经回到甘特里公寓的家里了。不过今天饭店一直出奇的爆满，有两个会议的与会者以及大量的其他客人入住，造成了不少问题，其中很多最后都堆到了她的案头。 |
"All right, thanks." McDermott scribbled a name and hung up. "Albert Wells, Montreal." | “好的，谢谢。”麦克德莫特草写了一个名字，挂上了电话。“阿尔伯特-威尔斯，蒙特利尔来的” |
"I know him," Christine said. "A nice little man who stays here every year. If you like, I'll check that one out." | 柳条图片“这人我认识，”克里斯汀说，“挺和气的一个矮个子，每年都来住。这事你要不要我帮你去看看？” |
He hesitated, eying Christine's slight, trim figure. | 他犹豫了一下，打量了一眼克里斯汀苗条瘦削的身板。 |
The telephone shrilled and he answered it. "I'm sorry, sir," the operator said, "we can7t locate Mr. Ogilvie." | 电话铃刺耳地响了起来，他拿起话筒。“很抱歉，先生，”接线员说，“我们找不到奥格尔维先生。” |
"Never mind. Give me the bell captain." Even if he couldn't fire the chief hou detective, McDermott thought, he would do some hell raising in the morning. Meanwhile he would nd someone el to look after the disturbance on the eleventh and handle the Duke and Duchess incident himlf. | “不管了，帮我接行李部领班。” 麦克德莫特心想，虽然他炒不了侦探长的鱿鱼，不过明天上午还是得跟他发发威。但这会儿。他要另找人去解决十一楼的麻烦，自己亲自去处理厨房公爵和公爵夫人的事。 |
"Bell captain," the phone said, and he recognized the flat nasal voice of Herbie Chandler. Chandler, like Ogilvie, was another of the St. Gregory's old-timers and reputedly controlled more sideline rackets than anyone el on staff . | “行李部领班”，电话那头说，他认出了赫比钱德勒那平平的带鼻音的声调。钱德勒跟奥格尔维一样，也是圣格里高利大饭店的老员工，而且据说掌握着比饭店里其他员工更多的生财之道。 |
McDermott explained the problem and asked Chandler to investigate the complaint about an alleged x orgy. As he had half expected, there was an immediate protest. "That ain't my job, Mr. Mac, and we're still busy down here." The tone was typical Chandler-half fawning, half insolent. | 麦克德莫特说了一下情况，叫钱德勒去调查一下那个所谓聚众淫乱的投诉。果不如他所料，那边马上就唱起了反调。“这不是我的活啊，麦克先生。我们底下这儿还忙着呢。”典型的钱德勒式“半卑半亢”的腔调。 |
McDermott instructed, "Never mind the argument, I want that complaint attended to." Making another decision: "And something el: nd a boy with a pass key to meet Miss Francis on the main mezzanine." He replaced the phone before there could be any more discussion. | 麦克德莫特发话了，“这事没得商量，你给我去处理这个投诉”。他又定了一个主意，“还有一件事：派个小伙子带上通用钥匙到主夹层去找弗朗西斯小姐。”他不由那头分说就挂上了电话。 |
"Let's go." His hand touched Christine's shoulders lightly. "Take the bellboy with you, and tell your friend to have his nightmares under the covers." | “我们走。”他用手轻轻碰了一下克里斯汀的肩膀。“你带上那个行李生，叫你那朋友做噩梦的时候消停点儿。” |
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